Sloppy Firsts

"I hate my parents. Taking away my phone privileges and limiting my online use are the most oppressive parental actions I can imagine. They're unaware that Hope is the one person who can keep me sane. I fail to see how things could deteriorate more."

Jessica Darling, a perceptive sixteen-year-old, is distraught when her closest friend, Hope Weaver, leaves Pineville, New Jersey. Now that the one person she could really interact with has left, Jessica feels more adrift than ever—a stranger at home and a fish out of water at school. How is she expected to handle her nonexistent love life, her dad's infatuation with her track meets, her mother drooling over older sister Bethany's extravagant wedding, and the boy- and shopping-crazy females at school?

Sloppy Firsts is a new, funny, and incredibly captivating fiction book by debut author Megan McCafferty. It offers a perceptive, real-life look at Jessica's situation as she begins a new year of adolescent suffering, covering everything from the dark days of Hope's departure to her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her conflicted feelings toward the mysterious and intelligent "Dreg" who wins her heart. Inspired by the natural comedy and drama of adolescence, Megan McCafferty writes like a twenty-first-century John Hughes. Both readers who are currently going through it and those who are happy they don't have to go back and grow up all over again will find this touching and humorous book appealing.